Chapter 35 The Happiness of the Ainu
The Happiness of the Ainu
I was led along the same route out of the district of old cobbled streets to the more modern neighborhood of low houses by this woman I barely recognized.
It was as if instead of spending a week in the mountains, Mizuki—who was today dressed in a black miniskirt, fishnet stockings and high heels—had been doing the rounds of the boutiques in Tokyo’s trendy Shibuya shopping district.
Once again, I was walking a few feet behind her so I could admire her long legs and the opening at the back of her red top, which revealed black bra straps.
This time she didn’t have a ponytail; her hair was braided into a high chignon.
The Japanese girl from San Francisco had gone from suicidal to fashion victim, and I was disconcerted.
On the way to the barbecue place she offered no explanation. She ignored me until we arrived in front of the wooden door with the grille. After ringing the bell, she turned around and winked at me.
The skinny man opened the sliding door wide as soon as he saw us.
Although we’d come quite a lot earlier this time, we were still the only customers in the place.
We sat down at the same barrel. Apart from the radical change in Mizuki’s appearance, I thought everything would be exactly the same as last time.
She, however, took it upon herself to prove me wrong.
A large bottle of cold sake landed on top of the barrel just as she was saying: “Now we have to celebrate the fact that we’ve both come back.”
“Did you doubt it?”
“I knew you’d be here,” she said, staring at me with a strange, fixed expression on her face. “I wasn’t so sure about myself.”
I drank half a glass of the unfiltered sake, while analyzing her first statement. Her conviction that I would be there either meant that she was very well aware of how attractive she was, or that she had detected in me a fearful soul that didn’t want to feel guilty about a suicide.
From my side of the barrel I watched the lamplight shine playfully over her face. My gaze dropped for a moment below her shoulders.
“Tell me what you did in Hokkaido.” I said, recovering my composure. “Is it true that the monkeys there bathe in the hot springs?”
“You mean the macaques? If you want to see them in the hot springs, you have to go there in winter, when it’s freezing cold.”
“Of course. I forgot—it’s summer now.”
“I went to this amazing cultural museum, where you can see how the Ainu indigenous community used to live,” she said, savoring the aroma of her glass of sake.
“The Ainu,” I repeated. “I’ve never heard of them. In fact, I didn’t even know that Japan had indigenous people.”
“There are only a few thousand now. They’re animists and believe that everything on earth has its kamui, or divine spirit. They bless the spirits of wine and food before they eat and drink. They used to live in thatched houses they call cise.”
“Apart from that, are they like other Japanese people?”
“No. Traditionally, they had a completely different way of life. For example, they didn’t have any furniture in the recreations of the thatched houses I saw.”
Two bowls of miso soup arrived as Mizuki’s mood became more expansive. She was fascinated by what she’d seen.
“Traditionally the men had very long beards and mustaches, and the women tattooed their mouths, as if they had a big black smile, and also their genitals. They wore loads of earrings and pendants. They hunted whatever they could find in the forest using a bow and poisoned arrows.” She blew on her soup before concluding.
“The men only used chopsticks when they were eating to move their mustaches out of the way. The women used spoons.”
“I’m happy that you’ve come back in better spirits,” I said, before starting on my soup. “Did you learn anything about the language?”
“It’s difficult and nothing like Japanese. I only remember one word, anekuroro. It means ‘happy.’”
“Anekuroro . . . I don’t know how long I’ll be in Kyoto, but I’m happy to see you happy.”
Mizuki slowly savored her soup, her eyelids lowered but looking relaxed. Then she smiled and said something I didn’t understand.
“Tonight you’ll have the chance to prove that what you just said is true.”